The present invention relates to a cleaning member for a two-edge shaving blade unit and, more particularly, to an improvement in the construction of a member interposed between two blade elements for ejecting as required the shaved hair particles and other matters deposited in and clogging the space between the leading and following cutting edges.
It is known that a two-edge safety razor can provide preferable shaving characteristics. Such razor includes therein two blade elements disposed parallel to each other in spaced relation to provide leading and following cutting edges so that both cutting edges are successively active with respect to the hair elements being cut during a single shaving stroke.
During shaving with the use of the two-edge safety razor, the hair particles and other matter produced are gradually deposited in and thus clog the space between the leading and following cutting edges of the two-edge shaving blade unit. Such deposited matter makes the shaving characteristics of the razor inferior, so that it must be removed at a suitable stage during, before and/or after shaving.
In order to overcome this problem, there have been proposed various two-edge shaving blade units having means for ejecting the shaved hair particles and other matters deposited in and clogging the space between two cutting edges.
For instance, the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 4,047,296 discloses a two-edge shaving blade unit including a cap member having a laterally elongated slot formed at its rear portion to provide a resilient thin rear wall. The resilient rear wall is connected to a rearward projection of an ejecting member which is interposed between two blade elements and movable back and forth in sliding contact with these blades elements. The resilient rear wall of the cap member exerts such a resilient force on the ejecting member as to normally keep the latter in the retracted position. For ejecting the shaved hair particles and other matters clogging the space between the cutting edges of two blade elements, the resilient rear wall is pressed forwardly, overcoming the resilient force of the rear wall, so as to move the ejecting member forwardly, thereby to eject the shaved hair particles and other matters.
This type of blade unit, however, involves various problems. Namely, the kinds of material of the cap member is inconveniently limited, because the cap member has to have a sufficient resiliency. At the same time, the construction is impractically complicated and the assembling is difficult and time consuming because it is necessary to mechanically connect the resilient rear wall of the cap member to the rearward projection of the ejecting member. Thus, the cost of production of the safety razor is raised uneconomically.
Meanwhile, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 32787/1978 discloses a two-edge shaving blade unit, in which a coiled springs are disposed to act between a downward rear bend of the ejecting member and the razor body, so as to resiliently bias the ejecting member to the retracted position. The mounting of such tiny parts as coiled springs in a small assembly such as a safety razor, however, is extremely troublesome and time consuming, and incurs a rise of cost of manufacture of the safety razor.